As remarked on by most, this is a near-impossible task. Do I list what I'm enjoying now, what I liked best at the time, what I keep coming back to, or what I recognise as great even though I might seldom listen? How to account for the fact that some songs, or their recordings, have meant an awful lot when the remainder of the same artist's output has left me cold? And how to shortlist ten, let along put them in any meaningful order -- perhaps I should be chronological even though it runs counter to the instructions? Do I cheat by mentioning similar artists/musicians that just missed, the better to give an impression of my (ahem) tastes rather than simply count in the poll? Heck, I don't know -- maybe a bit of all that.

The Beatles - showed me that pop could (at the start anyway) rise above that fake showbiz glitz or the fake street-punk cred that hung on in British pop since the teddy-boy era, despite the influence of Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Elvis and Motown; could mix R&B with R&R, sad and joyful melody, subtle vocal harmony and crisp timing, and could excite all over again. Post-Beatles it'd be George, Paul and John, in that order. Honourable mentions here also for The Hollies, Searchers and (later) Bee Gees.

Fairport Convention - Sandy Denny and Ian Matthews first, then the duelling strings of Thompson and Swarbrick, then Sandy again, and again. Related artists would include early Steeleye Span, plus other 'folk-rock' excursions by Hutchings and Carthy. Nic Jones for pure folk voice and guitar, Swan Arcade for perfect acapella singing in the folk style, with Yorkshire humour. Nice to see some of our members remember Mr Fox too. I should also find space to mention Rab Noakes, Gerry Rafferty, and The Incredible String Band!

Jackson Browne - for me the greatest of the West Coast singer/songwriters, but the list should go on, even pulling in a few easterners and some Canucks: Joni Mitchell, Paul Williams, Carole King, James Taylor, Neil Young, Judy Collins, Judee Sill, Todd Rundgren, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Simon & Garfunkel, and that Dylan fellow. And The Band.

Beach Boys - Lovely sunshine harmony. Don't forget near-misses Mamas and Papas, Lovin' Spoonful, Carpenters, Bread, Eagles, Poco and more. I guess I should include Abba as a contender here too, and perhaps the original (UK) Nirvana. Before all that, the Four Seasons.

Yes - their first four albums, before delicate dynamics and novel layerings gave way to pompous bluster and stadium domination. Runners-up Cream, Renaissance, Queen, ELO, Traffic, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Caravan.

Steely Dan - in a class of their own. Probably the closest I'll get to understanding something that's nearly jazz.

Al Stewart - his historical themes work for me. But other great British pop songwriters aren't far behind: Elton John, David Bowie, Terry Reid, Pete Townshend, Jack Bruce, Roy Harper. Plus, mainly for their voices, Colin Blunstone and Gary Brooker, their work with Alan Parsons as well as solo and with Zombies/Argent/Procol Harum.

Barenaked Ladies - After the punk revolution destroyed the distinction between commercial/novelty pop and serious/musicianly rock I closed my ears to the music and went underground like some tragic Brian Wilson figure. All the artists and bands which surfaced from the mid-70s, right through the 80s and 90s, including many in other MVs' top 10s, are just names to me, if that. Which might explain why the above-named artists are all of a certain vintage. But during the last 10 years Pete has encouraged me to listen to some new things, for which I'm truly grateful. Among them this Canadian band, who write and perform (very well) real songs with thoughtful lyrics and humour too. Not far behind are their countrymen Moxy Früvous.

Trisha Yearwood - Another Atkin introduction. Fabulous interpreter of country-style songs, though Shawn Colvin (Atkin again) is also a contender. I liked Emmylou too, back in the '70s.

J S Bach - I seldom listen to classical music these days, but I used to love JSB's density of texture and counterpoint, and mathematical precision. It'd be Mahler for choral, Elgar for English romance, Stravinsky for orchestral and Puccini for opera. Operetta, yes, must admit a weakness for Gilbert & Sullivan, and even operetta's bastard child the stage/screen musical: Les Misérables hit my spot (especially the Manchester production), as did (100 years earlier) West Side Story and The Sound of Music!

As remarked on by most, this is a near-impossible task. Do I list what I'm enjoying now, what I liked best at the time, what I keep coming back to, or what I recognise as great even though I might seldom listen?

I think we all had (or maybe in some last-minute cases, are still having!) a similar problem in deciding what to include, or more to the point, leave out.

But as the original brief from David was "You can take eleven musicians’ complete recorded works to a desert island. One musician will of course be Pete Atkin, but who are the other ten?", I decided to exclude artists in Steve's last category, on the grounds that I would want stuff I enjoy listening to now. I think the results might have been different otherwise. I wonder whether everyone else has done the same though?

I admit the sheer volume of output of some artists also helped pick my "desert island" selection, although I can honestly say that was never the main criterion, and they would have to be a contender anyway, based on my perception of their quality as an artist (otherwise if quantity was the most important thing I could have just plumped for, say, Cliff Richard - oops, apologies to anyone who may have included Sir Cliff ) . I would like to have plenty of choice during those long, lonely evenings under the palm trees with nothing but grass skirted dusky maidens and shipwrecked casks of malt whisky to keep me company... hmmm, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all...

As remarked on by most, this is a near-impossible task. Do I list what I'm enjoying now, what I liked best at the time, what I keep coming back to, or what I recognise as great even though I might seldom listen? How to account for the fact that some songs, or their recordings, have meant an awful lot when the remainder of the same artist's output has left me cold? And how to shortlist ten, let along put them in any meaningful order

What a masterly summing-up of the problems of this poll by our noble webmaster! Every one of those thoughts went through my head when I was compiling my own list.

My bottom three songs (ignoring the whole of Live Libel, which was a bit of fun but not - IMHO - to be taken seriously), are:-

1 National steel 2 Cold bitches 3 Our Lady Lowness

Interesting issue- because those would (while not in my top 20) certainly all be in my top 50% (and the worst of A/J's top 50% I'd regard as pretty good, and better than most other artists) -and I actually rather like most of 'live libel'! I guess that the music on LL is very different to Pete's usual work, since it's mostly musically pastiching the styles at the same time as the lyrics satirise their exponents. But the lyrics are still both funny and intelligent- CJ did, after all, make his new career as a master of (fairly) gentle satire- there are still several lyrics from LL that stick in my mind, along with the many from other albums.

I think I would argue that A/J didn't really do ANY bad songs- just ones that appeal to different tastes. Further- I think that their 'best' songs are probably the ones that almost everyone loves (even though they may not be in everyone's top ten), while the weaker ones appeal only to those whose musical tastes they suit. Identifying which is which though - that would be tricky. Probably you'd have to get everyone to rate all the songs they know, then do some complicated statistical wrangling with the result. (I'm getting serious Deja Vu here, so apologies if I've said all this before on the old mailing list...)

Perhaps we could enter all the songs with only 0-2 votes in this poll in a 'weakest link' shoot out- people could list all the ones from the list that they're not that keen on, then the ones with the largest number of demerits are classed as having more limited appeal? Rather depends if anyone's got the time & inclination to work it out though...

<<Perhaps we could enter all the songs with only 0-2 votes in this poll in a 'weakest link' shoot out- people could list all the ones from the list that they're not that keen on, then the ones with the largest number of demerits are classed as having more limited appeal? Rather depends if anyone's got the time & inclination to work it out though... >>

Easy peasy: directly below are the ones that got one or two votes while further below are the ones that got no votes at all (I've wiped out all the stuff from Live Libel which I've taken as being non-representative while leaving in Star Of Tomorrow so as not to upset Paw Gunningham. Westmorland?!) One or Two votes

Nothing Left To Say The Beautiful Changes Little Sammy Speedball Frangipanni Was Her Flower Search And Destroy Star Of Tomorrow All I Ever Did

No Votes as yet

Have You Got A Biro I Can Borrow? Luck Of The Draw

Where Have They All Gone?

Apparition In Las Vegas

The Man Who Walked Towards The Music Our Lady Lowness

Time And Time Again Little Sammy Speedball

The Magic Wasn't There Sudden Arrivals Let's Try The Whole Thing Again

(Deep breath) 1. Canoe 2. History and Geography 3. No Dice 4. Tenderfoot 5. Femme Fatale 6. The Double Agent 7. You Alone will be my Last Adventure 8. Tongue-Tied 9. Payday Evening 10. The Rider to the World's End

(Reserves: Eye of the Universe, All I Ever Did, Faded Mansion, Last Hill, The Road of Silk, The Trophies of my Lovers Gone, The Beautiful changes, My Dreams are Troubled, Lady of a Day, Between Us there is Nothing)

I think we all had (or maybe in some last-minute cases, are still having!) a similar problem in deciding what to include, or more to the point, leave out.

But as the original brief from David was "You can take eleven musicians’ complete recorded works to a desert island. One musician will of course be Pete Atkin, but who are the other ten?", I decided to exclude artists in Steve's last category, on the grounds that I would want stuff I enjoy listening to now. I think the results might have been different otherwise. I wonder whether everyone else has done the same though?

Thanks, Paul - your comment above about Steve's problems in picking his desert island musicians was spot on: it's all about whose music you most want to have with you, bearing in mind that you'll have just ten others (including Pete, of course) to listen to for quite some time! Like you, I hope this is what most people have done - based on Steve's comments against his choices, it looks like he has.

The desert island aspect certainly changed my selection - there are artists I do not listen to all the time, but would be essential in long term isolation! Of course, if we all stranded on the same desert island at the same time, and could borrow each other's choices every now and again......

A Hill Of Little Shoes An Empty Table Be Careful When They Offer You The Moon Beware Of The Beautiful Stranger Daughter Of The Sun Driving Through Mythical America Errant Knight Flowers And The Wine Girl On The Train History And Geography Master Of The Revels Practical Man Star Of Tomorrow Sunlight Gate Thief In The Night Touch Has A Memory

Faded Mansion on the Hill Canoe Thirty Year Man Beware of the Beautiful Stranger Between Us There is Nothing Perfect Moments Payday Evening Thief in the Night Senior Citizens A Hill Of Little Shoes

The next Ten are pretty good too:

History And Geography Tenderfoot Flowers And The Wine I See The Joker Sunlight Gate Hypertension Kid Girl On The Train The Double Agent Carnations On The Roof Last Hill That Shows You All The Valley

It's interesting that GOTT is at Number 17 when it was the winner last time.

The Bottom Ten are:

My Brother's Keeper Luck Of The Draw Nothing Left To Say The Beautiful Changes Little Sammy Speedball Lonesome Levis Lane Frangipanni Was Her Flower Search And Destroy Star Of Tomorrow Ballad of an upstairs window

but I haven't included the songs that got no votes at all which are:

Have You Got A Biro I Can Borrow? Where Have They All Gone? Apparition In Las Vegas The Man Who Walked Towards The Music Our Lady Lowness Time And Time Again Little Sammy Speedball The Magic Wasn't There Sudden Arrivals Let's Try The Whole Thing Again With Her It Goes Deeper More In Anger Than In Sorrow Early Days So Loud I Couldn't Hear It Fat Cat

Now I'm definitely going to bed: Happy New Year or at least what's left of it.

Songs with the most voters : Faded Mansion On The Hill and Thirty Year Man (18)

No less than 25 different songs were somebody's Number One. Three people put A King At Nightfall as their favourite but only one other person voted for it at all. You either love it or hate it, it seems. Nobody put Thirty Year Man as Number One though it got more votes than any other except Faded Mansion.

Only 1 album (Secret Drinker) doesn't have a song in the Top Ten. The highest-placed was Tenderfoot (12)

Album with most songs in the Top Ten : Road Of Silk (3)

Biggest surprises (for me anyway): only one person voted for Touch Has A Memory, My Egoist (me), two for Secret Drinker and Nothing Left To Say while Tonight Your Love Is Over which got into the Top Ten last time thanks to statistical manipulation got nowhere this time. Similarly, Girl On The Train, the winner last time, came 17th.